Chapter 101: Kidnapping

Song Qingyou lurched forward with the force of habit, her heart suddenly overstrained. She clutched her chest with a pale hand and coughed again and again, her face gradually draining of color.

Song Chang was startled. His first reaction was to look at Song Qingyou in the back seat. “Miss, are you all right?”

Song Qingyou coughed blood into her handkerchief, hiding it from Song Chang. With great effort, she forced out a few words: “Uncle Chang, get out and take a look.”

Alarmed, Song Chang turned and hurried out to see what they had struck. The moment his feet touched the ground, the man who had been knocked down before him slowly rose. He was in rags, his long hair hanging low enough to obscure his face.

Song Chang could not make out his features and assumed he was a beggar. He was just about to speak when he saw the man walking straight toward the rear window.

He immediately frowned and moved to stop him, but when he saw the weapon in the man’s hand, he froze on the spot.

At last, Song Chang recognized who it was, and shouted sharply, “Song Chen, what do you think you’re doing?”

Song Chen pressed the tip of the knife to Song Qingyou’s throat. The skin beneath the blade was fair, soft, and delicate; even that light pressure drew a thin line of blood.

A foul stench clung to him, as if he had just crawled out of a garbage heap.

“Song Qingyou! One month. A whole month! Do you know what my life was like in the Jiang family’s underground prison?” Song Chen’s eyes were bloodshot, his gaze fixed on her face with a viciousness that seemed ready to tear his teeth apart. His voice was hoarse beyond recognition, like that of a dying old man, utterly unlike his own.

Song Qingyou was still coughing, one fit after another, endless and ragged. She wanted to reach for her medicine in her bag, but the moment she lowered her head, the knife tip pierced her skin. A drop of blood slid from the blade and fell onto the back of Song Chen’s hand.

Song Qingyou did not move again.

Song Chen was in a highly unstable state, but he had not completely lost his reason. He knew they were still on a public street; though secluded, someone would pass by soon enough. Pressing the knife to Song Qingyou’s neck, he climbed into the car and said in a low voice, “Tell Song Chang to get lost.”

Song Qingyou lifted her eyes and looked at Song Chen. Her gaze was cool and distant.

In a flat voice, she said, “Uncle Chang, you should go back first.”

Song Chang was sweating with anxiety. “Song Chen, don’t do anything rash! If you want someone, come for me. Let go of the young lady!”

A cruel curve touched Song Chen’s mouth, making him look chillingly sinister. “Song Chang, if you don’t want Song Qingyou stabbed to death right now, get the hell out. Oh, and one more thing: tell Fu Wenzhou that his precious woman is in my hands. If he wants her back, he’d better prepare five hundred million and wait for my message!”

As he spoke, he pressed the knife harder. Blood began to bead and stream steadily from the point. Song Qingyou frowned slightly from the pain.

Afraid he might truly kill her, Song Chang stepped back at once. “Don’t hurt the young lady! Song Chen, she’s your sister!”

“Sister?” Song Chen burst into laughter. “Does the Song family even have such a thing as family affection? Don’t make me laugh. Back up. Keep backing up until the intersection.”

Cold sweat ran down Song Chang’s face. With his hands behind his back, he tried to call the police.

Song Chen seemed to read his thoughts. “If you don’t mind her dying, then go ahead and call.”

Song Chang’s finger, about to tap the screen, suddenly froze. He looked at Song Qingyou, then slowly began to retreat step by step. “Song Chen, don’t be impulsive. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in prison? You—”

His voice grew more and more distant. When Song Chen saw that he was far enough away, he slammed the car door shut and moved around to the driver’s seat.

Song Qingyou endured the discomfort in her throat. The moment the man opened the car door, she sprang up at once, trying to shove it open and flee.

Click.

The door was locked.

Song Qingyou pulled hard several times, but it would not budge.

By her ear came Song Chen’s low, demonic laugh. “Don’t waste your strength, Song Qingyou. It’s time we settled the账 between us properly.”

Song Qingyou let out a slow breath of stale air and closed her eyes as if resigned to her fate.

She had thought she might die, but she had never imagined she would die at Song Chen’s hands.

After being locked away for a month, Song Chen’s mind was probably already warped beyond normal.

He drove all the way to the suburbs and finally stopped inside an abandoned factory building.

Song Chen pulled open the rear door and dragged Song Qingyou out in one motion. He was strong; she was flung to the ground and started coughing again.

Song Chen crouched before her, his palm clamping over her still-bleeding neck. Every word he spoke was soaked in hatred. “Do you fucking know how I spent that month inside? I only ever locked you up for three days before. Have I ever kept you for a month? Huh? Have I? Song Qingyou, you really are ruthless to the bone!”

His eyes widened with savage fury, nearly popping from their sockets. He tightened his grip on her throat, and blood oozed from the wound, sliding into his palm.

Song Qingyou could not breathe. Her face had gone deathly pale, and a mouthful of dark blood seemed lodged in her chest, unable to come up and unable to go down.

Just as she was on the verge of suffocating, Song Chen abruptly let go.

Song Qingyou covered her neck and gasped for air, her eyes damp with tears. She coughed so hard it felt as if her organs were about to come out with it.

When she finally recovered a little, she looked up at Song Chen. “You locked me up... cough... for three days? Then how many three-day periods did you lock me up during that month? Song Chen... cough... this month was your own bitter harvest.”

Song Chen clenched his teeth and stared at her in silence.

Song Qingyou’s voice was hoarse and clear. “What do you want? What was the purpose of bringing me here? Who ordered you?”

Song Chen did not have the brains or the nerve for this, and he would not have taken the risk of kidnapping her for a mere five hundred million.

Song Chen’s expression changed dramatically. The muscles in his face trembled with rage, and fierce, firelike light burst from his eyes. “You really think you can calculate everything?”

He gave a cold laugh and tied Song Qingyou to the pillar behind her.

Then he looked at her with a teasing expression. “Tell me, do you think that mad dog will catch the scent and come running?”

Song Qingyou’s expression darkened at once. “I’m warning you, Song Chen. If you dare lay a hand on Fu Wenzhou, I will make sure you suffer for it.”

Song Chen froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed. The sound was hoarse and terrifying. “Song Qingyou, I really didn’t expect that even someone as cold-blooded and calculating as you could have something you’re afraid of. What is it? Afraid I’ll hurt that mad dog? Then you’re going to be disappointed.”

He tapped her face with the knife. “You’ve been able to do whatever you wanted in the capital, and you used the Jiang family to have me locked away in that underground prison. If the man surnamed Fu hadn’t been helping you from the shadows, do you really think all of this would have gone so smoothly? I spent this past month worse off than a pig or a dog. Tell me, shouldn’t I settle this score with both of you?”

“Song Wei bullied you, and I sent her abroad. Song Shi had a snake bite you, and I went to your room and killed it. Li Ruo planted a whole garden of roses, and I uprooted every last one.”

His voice suddenly turned bitter, and his smile twisted into a grimace. There was a flash of hatred in his eyes. “In the Song family, I’m the only one who knows you’re allergic to roses. Song Qingyou, do you really think I treated you badly?”

“I only locked you up for a few days, and you’re going to take revenge on me like this? Who in the Song family hasn’t gone further than I ever did? What right do you have to come after only me?” In Song Chen’s ferocious black eyes flickered a bestial savagery. “Sometimes I truly want to tear that hypocritical face of yours to pieces.”

Song Qingyou cut him off coldly. “Song Chen, we are siblings.”